I was riding in the back of a pickup truck two days ago when it occurred to me that things weren't all that bad.
It's costs about 100 pesos, and about 45 minutes of time, for the GuaGua ride from Loma de Cabrera to my little mountain pueblo. Since gas costs so much in the Dominican Republic, drivers typically stop their engines at the tops of hills and roll to the bottom before starting the engine again. Even motorcycles do this.
I was about 20 minutes outside of Loma when the GuaGua driver did this. The sudden silence of riding in an open cab on an empty road, while rolling through a wet cloud in the mountains, forced me to recognize the beauty of the moment. The pine trees were mixed with palm and mango trees. None of the other Dominicans in the back of the truck with me said a word. None of us wanted to disturb the moment.